Hanja Word Drill: 門 – 문 문

After doing numerals, I always feel wanting for hanja that is more than just a number. So I’ll wrap this post up by discussing a non-numeral hanja. That hanja is 門 [문], one that is both a word and a character. Let’s take a look at this basic hanja, shall we?

Gates of Seoul

However as I mentioned, the in Seoul, 門 [문] is a character that is part of the name for all 8 of its gates. So why don’t we talk about those. The eight gates are divided into two groups: 사대문 [四大門] (The Four Great Gates) and 사소문 [四小門] (The Four Small Gates). The large gates are at the cardinal points (North, East, South and West) and the four smaller gates are in the cardinal points in-between (Northwest, Northeast, Southeast, and Southwest). Furthermore each gate has an official name and direction name. Let’s go over all of them:

Besides these 8 gates, though other gates still exist in Seoul and they to use the hanja 門 [문] in their name. Pretty cool to see so much history when learning hanja, no? By the way, with the basic hanja of level 8 you can write the directional names of all 8 gates!

If you happen to know any other word you think has this hanja, let us know in the comments.

Our 一 Vocabulary List

*Meanings written in italics are the meanings when you use the noun as a 하다 verb.

Polar BearAuthor

After meeting Panda, Polar Bear became enthralled with the Korean Language. Today he spends his days learning Korean, writing notes on what he has learned and sharing it with everyone else. He hopes he can spread his love for Korean and help others learn it.